Adoption and effectiveness of open distance E-Learning in tourism and hospitality training case study Makerere University

Abstract

Since the integration of technology in teaching and learning, it has been observed that there is improvement in the acquisition and retention of knowledge. There is also existing body of research on adoption of e-learning platforms by students in institutions of Higher Education across the world. However, few of the existing studies has involved students in public education institutions in Uganda. Therefore, this study has set out to explore student adoption and effectiveness of elearning platforms, their attitudes, and the hurdles that they face in their daily usage of e-learning platforms in Makerere University. The target population for the study was students of Makerere university School of forestry environmental and geographical sciences. Stratified random sampling was used to select participants with data collected from a total of 80 students (36 males and 44 females) across all programs and years of study at the school. The research tools used were questionnaire, focus group interviews, and interviews to collect data. The study revealed a significant usage of e-learning platforms as the majority of learners belonged to the category of basic users of e-learning platforms. This was shown by their positive ratings of the e-learning platforms (perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and actual system usage). The study further collected learner’s views about the challenges/hindrances that they face in their daily usage of e-learning platforms. The learners appreciated the learning technology and shared that the features available in e-learning platforms allow them to extend their learning outside the traditional form of learning, thus accommodating their learning needs. However, they noted challenges that normally hinder their learning such as files not opening or not downloading when needed, limited interaction and unreliable internet connection. Most of these barriers showed the technical problems that are common in e-Learning. Participants shared their suggestions to address the challenges identified. The study concluded that E-learning has been highly adopted by many students at campus on platforms like MUELE, Zoom cloud meetings, social media platforms like WhatsApp. The study also revealed that there have been significant hindrances faced by students in accessing the Elearning platforms like the unstable internet connectivity